Amaechi’s Fraud in the Procurement of Rail Coaches

There has been considerable discussion about Nigeria’s rail sector
over the previous four years. Most of the discussion has focused on the size of
the contract for a railway with the same contractor that is more than what the
same contractor charged Ghana for a much longer system. While indeed this
irregularity is glaring and warrants serious investigation and answers, what
appears to have gone unnoticed is the outright fraud that has occurred in the
procurement of rail coaches for Nigeria’s national railways.

TRANSPARENCY

The first glaring irregularity, is that the ministry of
transportation has never released the exact figure that was paid to contractors
for the procurement of rail coaches. This defies even the most undemocratic
governments in the world. You can search and get exact figures for what
governments in Algeria, and Senegal,
or even Myanmar
paid for their rail coaches
because the officials
in those countries announced the exact figures and
the amount of the contract. However, under Rotimi Amaechi, the ministry of
transportation has never provided any documentation or press release for how
much they are truly spending on rail coaches. Even the minister of the federal
capital territory announced the exact figure they were paying for the light
rail coaches they were procuring rolling stock from the same contractor. Yet
the much larger contracts from the transportation ministry under Amaechi have
never announced or released any records of figures. The question is why?

BUDGET

The budget for rail coaches announced and approved by the Federal
Executive Council under current Vice President Osinbajo, in December 2017 for
rail coaches was 500 million United States Dollars just for Lagos and Warri
rail lines. This development was reported in the media at the time: https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2017/12/13/purchase-of-coaches-locomotives-for-railway-projects-approved/ With his budget approval in hand, Rotimi Amaechi set forth
procuring coaches from the Chinese contractor (CRRC). Some of them have been
delivered out of the 64 that are under construction. It is pretty vague how
many were ordered for Lagos and Warri, but one this is unmistakable. Nobody has
announced how much the order from CRRC was for. How much do one of these
coaches cost? If you wait on Amaechi to tell you, you will never know. However,
the government of Cuba, also made a huge order for their tiny Island. The Cuban
order of 240 coaches, dwarfs what Amaechi has been ordering for Nigeria, one of
the most populous countries in the world. Further the reported price tag for
the massive Cuban order is just 150 million United States Dollars, less than
1/3 of what the transportation ministry was approved for in 2017 (http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2478872&CategoryId=14510).

MISSING 450 MILLLION DOLLARS

It is not clear how much the Ministry of Transportation has spent on
the order of coaches, but if we are to assume that they have paid in advance
for everything, and even snuck in an order of a few extra units, no more than
50 million dollars out of the 500 million budgeted has been spent. If the
entire 500 million dollars was truly spent on coaches, no fewer than 1000
coaches should be delivered to Nigeria. Instead Nigeria is being delivered 10
coaches at a time, a number that pales in comparison to what the

tiny Island of Cuba has been getting for their system.
What has happened to the remaining 450 million dollars allocated by the FEC to
the ministry of transportation? Nobody really knows, and unfortunately, nobody is asking, and nobody seems to care.
These speaks volumes
for the failure
of leadership, both in
governance, and in media throughout the country. The opposition, is also grossly
incompetent, for their failure to investigate and/or point
out these glaring irregularities.

REAPPOINTMENT?

It
has been reported that the president is considering reappointing Rotimi Amaechi
to a ministerial position. Given his conduct as governor, 1) where he spent
hundreds of millions yet failed to build a monorail that was constructed for a
fraction of the cost in Moscow, and neighboring Cross River state by the same
manufacturer, and 2) now is unable to explain gross irregularities in rail
contracts for Nigeria and Ghana by the same contractor, and 30 also has never
explained or provided the simple figures for the 500 million dollars that he
was assigned to use to procure coaches that would not cost 1/10 of that amount;
it is not clear why anyone would deem Rotimi Amaechi qualified to occupy a
ministerial position in LGA yet alone the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Of the
former cabinet he was the most unfit and his conduct in office demonstrated the
lack of confidence shown from the onset of his initial appointment. Unless the
president, vice president, and the ruling APC want to find themselves a
laughing stock in their fight against corruption, reappointing Rotimi Amaechi
would be the worst idea imaginable.

Posted by

Eze Chucks is an experienced media practitioner. He has worked for several news organisation.He has pioneered many online news website as an editor . He holds a B.Sc Economics degree and a masters degree
email:editor@compassnewspaper.com.ng